Effectiveness of pegylated interferon and ribavirin in patients with liver HCV cirrhosis.

Clearance of HCV before transplantation could avoid recurrence of hepatitis C in the liver allograft, thereby improving graft and patient survival. We report our experience with combined therapy for patients with HCV cirrhosis, including 12 patients with biopsy-proven liver cirrhosis (n = 7) or previous cirrhotic complications (n = 5). The Child-Pugh score was A in eight patients and B in four. Two patients had hepatocellular carcinoma. Genotype distribution was 1a (n = 2), 1b (n = 8) or 3 (n = 1). Patients received peginterferon alpha2b (1.5 microg/kg once weekly) and ribavirin (10.6 g/kg per day) for 48 weeks (genotype 1) or 24 weeks (genotype 3). Twenty-one months after beginning therapy all the patients remained alive; three have undergone liver transplantation. In one patient treatment was discontinued after 2 months due to cachexia. End-of-treatment virologic response was achieved in five patients (41.7%) and sustained virologic response in three patients (25%). Patients who cleared the virus had negative PCR 4 weeks after beginning therapy. All patients had adverse events. The most common clinical events were asthenia, weight loss, fever, and anorexia. Infectious complications resolved in three patients (25%). Hematologic events were common. Seven of 11 patients (63.6%) who completed therapy required dose reduction. We conclude that therapy with peginterferon and ribavirin in patients with HCV cirrhosis has a similar effectiveness to previous treatments. A virologic response 1 month after the beginning of therapy could be a main predictor of a sustained response.